Buckingham Notables: Mildred Ellis Hall (1855-1936)
Mildred M. Ellis, Passport Application, Click to Enlarge Image
In 1908, Mildred M. Ellis, commonly known as Minnie, married Judge Alexander S. Hall, both of Buckingham County. Click here to read the details: Judge Hall Marries.
Born in Buckingham County, on September 9, 1855, Minnie’s heritage represented the intermarrying of prominent Buckingham families. As was the case with many other Virginia families, her ancestors married cousins, creating a tangled web of tight interconnections. Her great grandparents were Prettyman Merry and Catherine Suggett, William Harden Perkins and Elizabeth Lee Fearn. Her grandparents were William Harding Perkins and Mildred Walker Merry. Her parents were Richard Shelton Ellis and Anne Fearn Perkins.
When she was forty-four years old, Minnie applied for a passport on May 17, 1900. In those days, passports still had physical descriptions rather than photos. Her description reads: stature 5 feet 6 ½ inches, medium forehead, blue eyes, prominent nose, medium mouth, pointed chin, light hair, fair complexion, and long face.
Minnie applied for her passport in May of 1900, planned to go abroad, and return by August. Not many women from Buckingham County traveled abroad in 1900, especially for such a short time. This was not long enough for a Grand Tour of Europe. Where did she go?
Though Minnie married late in life, she spent twenty-four years with Judge Hall. At Maysville Presbyterian Church, she happily taught Sunday School to the budding young ladies of Buckingham County. She died on February 8, 1936.
Thanks to Minnie’s distant cousin, Mary Carolyn Mitton, for providing this glimpse at a Virginia gem!
slate river ramblings . . . . 
Joanne – Can’t speak for “most people” of early 20th century Buckingham County, but the Welsh people of Arvonia were traveling abroad at this time. When the Williams slate quarries of Arvonia went out on strike in 1910, my grandfather, Thomas Stanley Jeffrey, returned to Wales and worked in the Dinorwig quarries there, where his relatives lived and worked. I’m sure he was not the only one who made the trip.
Thanks for your thoughts about the Welsh traveling back and forth across the Atlantic. We know that someone of the stature of Alexander Moseley, Editor of the Whig, made a grand tour of Europe in the 1850s. Young men were sent to Britain for school. In Minnie’s case, I mostly wonder about the possibility of a mature, unmarried woman traveling alone. Perhaps, she traveled with friends or family members. Joanne